LETHAL WEAPON screenwriter Shane Black will direct a live-action adaptation of manga DEATH NOTE for Warner Bros., reports Deadline.com. He will shepherd the rewrites by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry of Charley and Vlas Parlapanides' first draft. Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Doug Davison and Brian Witten are the producers.

Tsugumi Ohba wrote and Takeshi Obata illustrated the original manga. The popular series has spawned Japanese live-action and animated features, an anime series (which airs on Adult Swim), novels and videogames. The story follows a student named Light who discovers a notebook that kills those whose names are written in it. He sets out to use the notebook to fight crime, which spurs famed FBI profiler L to hunt him.